Harry Elliott

Infobox Historic Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = ENG
name = Harry Elliott
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-hand bat
bowling style = -
tests = 4
test runs = 61
test bat avg = 15.25
test 100s/50s = 0/0
test top score = 37*
test balls = -
test wickets = -
test bowl avg = -
test 5s = -
test 10s = -
test best bowling = -
test catches/stumpings = 8/3
FCs = 532
FC runs = 7580
FC bat avg = 13.93
FC 100s/50s = 0/11
FC top score = 94
FC balls = 3
FC wickets = 0
FC bowl avg = 10.00
FC 5s = 0
FC 10s = 0
FC best bowling = 0/10
FC catches/stumpings = 903/303
debut date = 4 February
debut year = 1928
last date = 10 February
last year = 1934
source = http://content-www.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/12504.html

Harold Elliot, (November 2, 1891–February 4, 1976), was a cricketer who played for Derbyshire and England.

Born at Scarcliffe, in November 1891, Elliott spent the early part of his working life as a miner before escaping the grimness of the coalfields for the green pastures of Wiseton Hall, in North Nottinghamshire, where, in 1913, he landed a job at the home of Sir Joseph Laycock.

The fact that his junior groom was a good cricketer was not lost on Sir Joseph, himself a keen sportsman. Young Elliott soon found himself tending his employer’s private cricket ground, and keeping wicket for Sir Joseph’s XI in the golden days of Edwardian country house cricket.

Elliott had first played in adult cricket when he was only 14, appearing for the local Scarcliffe club for whom his father kept wicket.

Before he was out of his teens, Elliott was turning out for Shirebrook, to where the rumbustious fast bowler, Bill Bestwick, had moved after falling out with Derbyshire in 1909.

When war was declared in August 1914, Elliott joined his employer’s regiment, the Royal Horse Artillery, in Egypt and one day found himself in Alexandria with £50 to spend on cricket equipment so that soldiers could enjoy a game.

Brigadier-General Laycock liked to look after his men and setting up a few games of cricket was an important part of rest and recuperation for the troops.

After Europe was restored to peace in 1918, Harry Elliott returned to Wiseton and resumed life on the estate of the landed gentry.

In 1920, Sir Archibald White, the pre-war captain of Yorkshire, came to play for Sir Joseph’s team.

He wanted to take Harry Elliott to Headingley but, on learning that he wasn’t a Yorkshireman – in those days, it was essential to be born within that county’s boundaries in order to represent it at cricket – instead recommended him to his native Derbyshire.

After lying about his age, Elliott made an impressive start in the 2nd XI at Edgbaston – he shared in a stand of 59 after being sent in to open the second innings – and found himself making his first-class debut against Essex at the County Ground, Derby, in June 1920.

His 25 not out in the second innings helped Derbyshire to force their visitors to bat again and the southern county lost four wickets in making the 41 to win a low scoring match.

It was the start of a remarkable career for Harry Elliott, spanning 27 years and 532 matches.

Derbyshire’s regular wicketkeeper, George Beet, played only five more games for the county, all as a batsman, as Elliott made the position his own.

His statistics are remarkable. He made 194 consecutive appearances up to 1928, a sequence broken only by his appearance for England in the Old Trafford Test against the West Indies; and a further 232 consecutive appearances up to 1937, when he had to drop out through injury.

Ironically, considering that it was his early promise as a batsman that earned him a place in the Derbyshire team, Elliott’s potential as a run scorer never really matured.

Although his gritty approach saved more than a few games, he did not make his first 50 until 1932 and, in his long career, reached the half-century mark on only nine other occasions. He was more famous for his dead-bat style than for attacking flair, his one regular scoring shot being a “mow” to leg after dropping down on one leg.

Elliott appeared in four Tests for England, making his debut in the Fifth Test against South Africa, at Durban, in February 1928, and his last appearance in the Third Test against India, in Madras, in February 1934.

He would have played in all the Tests in the 1927-28 series but when Derbyshire’s own skipper, Guy Jackson, dropped out through illness, his replacement as tour captain, R T Stanyforth, was also a wicketkeeper.

Overall, it was Elliott’s misfortune that he played at a time when England could also call upon Les Ames, of Kent, and George Duckworth, of Lancashire, both world-class wicketkeepers.

By the time he fully retired, Elliott had made 520 appearances in Derbyshire’s first team and had set several Derbyshire records: most dismissals in a season (90); in a match (10); in an innings (six, three times); and most stumpings in a season (30).

Perhaps his finest moment came against Lancashire at Old Trafford in 1935 when he caught eight and stumped two as Derbyshire won by seven runs with five minutes remaining – matches were “timed-out” in those days before a minimum number of overs had to be bowled.

That Old Trafford match was an exciting affair. Derbyshire skipper Arthur Richardson declared to leave Lancashire with 320 to score for victory in four and a half hours.

They began at 1pm and, by tea, had reached 153 for three, all the wickets having fallen to superb catches by the Derbyshire wicketkeeper.

After tea, John Iddon raced to his century, adding 54 runs in only half an hour with Norman Oldfield.

Then, Elliott stumped Oldfield, and caught Iddon “three yards wide off a fast ball from Copson,” according to the great cricket writer, Neville Cardus.

Then Dick Pollard and Eddie Phillipson added 47 in 35 minutes before Pollard was run out. When Elliott stumped Frank Booth it was the wicketkeeper’s sixth victim of the innings and his 10th in the match.

When Parkinson was caught at silly mid-off, Lancashire still needed 44 runs in 60 minutes with two wickets remaining.

Peter Eckersley and Phillipson put on 36 before Eckersley was caught by Alf Pope on the boundary and then, in the next over, the same player bowled Duckworth for a duck.

Derbyshire were home by seven runs, with five minutes to spare. It was their first victory over their oldest rivals since 1911.

Harry Elliott had played the leading role in that famous victory over Lancashire, but he probably enjoyed a win over Leicestershire, at Park Road, Loughborough, in 1933, even more.

Captaining the side in the absence of Arthur Richardson, he not only led Derbyshire to an innings triumph, but he also scored 94 after going in as nightwatchman, sharing in a stand of 222 with Leslie Townsend (who scored 233) to set a new third-wicket record for Derbyshire.

In addition, Elliott allowed no byes in Leicestershire’s innings of 346 and 85.

In his first-class career, Elliott held 904 catches and stumped 302 batsmen, as well as scoring 7,580 runs with a highest score of 94 and an average of just under 14.

When county cricket resumed in 1946, after the Second World War, Elliott became a first-class umpire, but resigned at the end of the season to take up an appointment as Derbyshire’s new coach.

Then, in 1947, he came out of retirement, playing four times, taking seven catches and making one stumping, at such a venerable age for a cricketer.

He became a first-class umpire again, standing in seven Tests in the early 1950s and, in partnership with former Derby County and England winger, Sammy Crooks, ran a sports outfitters on The Spot, in Derby.

One story sums up Elliott’s all-consuming passion for gaining the advantage.

At Trent Bridge, in 1929, he found himself with the ball in his hand and both Notts batsmen at the same end. Elliott realised that it would be better for Derbyshire if the non-striker, George Gunn, was the man to go.

As the next batsman sat patiently in the pavilion, waiting for them to sort it out, Gunn and Arthur Carr, the other batsman, spent more than five minutes arguing about who should be out.

Eventually, it was Carr who was persuaded to leave but, only when Gunn wandered down the pitch, did Elliott break the wicket, pointing out that it was the first time he had done so and appealed.

Carr had to be brought back from the pavilion and a disgruntled Gunn was made to leave, watched by a smiling Derbyshire wicketkeeper.

Harry Elliott died in Derby on February 4, 1976, aged 84. He was the uncle of Charlie Elliott.